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Environmental groups are preparing to sue the federal government for not listing the gopher tortoise as endangered in four southern states. The groups say Wednesday that the animals are being imperiled by loss of habitat largely caused by human development. The Center for Biological Diversity and Nokuse Education filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision last year not to list the gopher tortoise as endangered or threatened in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and eastern Alabama.

Hurricane Ian has left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power to 2.5 million people. It's now aiming for the Atlantic Coast as a tropical storm. One person is confirmed dead and a Florida sheriff said he believes fatalities are in the hundreds. One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. is drenched the Florida peninsula overnight, threatening catastrophic flooding.

Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., swamped southwest Florida, flooding streets and buildings, knocking out power to 1.6 million people and threatening catastrophic damage further inland. A coastal sheriff's office reported that it was already getting a significant number of calls from people trapped in homes. The hurricane's center struck near Cayo Costa, a protected barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers.

Hurricane Ian has made landfall in southwestern Florida as a massive Category 4 storm. About 2.5 million people had been ordered to evacuate the area before the storm hit the coast on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph). The storm was heading inland, where it was expected to weaken, but residents in central Florida could still experience hurricane-force winds.

Florida and 20 other states (including South Caroliona) have sued to halt the federal government's pandemic requirement that people wear masks on planes, trains and other public transport. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Tampa, Florida. It contends that the mask mandate exceeds the authority of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC rule took effect Feb. 1, 2021. It requires "the wearing of masks by people on public transportation conveyances or on the premises of transportation hubs," according to the agency website. The rule has been relaxed somewhat but was recently extended until at least April 18 for domestic and international travel in general.

Tropical Storm Elsa is carving a destructive and soaking path up the East Coast after killing at least one person in Florida and spinning up a tornado at a Georgia Navy base that flipped recreational vehicles and threw one of them into a lake. One person was killed in Jacksonville, Florida, when a tree fell onto a car. Elsa was expected to pass near the eastern mid-Atlantic states by Thursday night and move near or over the northeastern United States on Friday. Tropical storm warnings were in effect along the coast from North Carolina to Connecticut.